Enchanted Blade

Enchanted Blades
The Enchanted Blades, excluding Enten. The top left box contains Magatsumi, and the one below it contains Cloud Gouger.
Type	Swords
Effects	Amplification and manifestation of Spirit Energy
Source	Datenseki

The Enchanted Blades (妖 (よう) 刀 (とう) , Yōtō) are a set of seven special and extremely powerful katana crafted by Kunishige Rokuhira, each infused with sorcery and utilized during the Seitei War that occurred 18 years ago. The Hishaku's theft of six of the enchanted blades and their murder of the blades' creator Kunishige causes his son Chihiro to embark on a quest to retrieve the enchanted blades.

While the existence of six Enchanted Blades is common knowledge to the public, the seventh, wielded by Chihiro, is a secret known only to his close associates, kept hidden from the Kamunabi, the government affiliated group who aim to retrieve the enchanted blades for the sake of the nation.

The Enchanted Blades' primary strength lies in their unique interaction with Spirit Energy. Enchanted Blades amplify the spirit energy within wielders to the point where the wielder's body cannot contain it, the spirit energy instead manifesting in the form of specific shapes made of potent and concentrated spirit energy which can then be used to attack.

History

Eighteen years ago, during the Seitei War, Kunishige crafted six powerful Enchanted Blades. These blades played a vital role in securing victory in the war, earning Kunishige recognition as a hero. After the war, Kunishige took the blade back and went into hiding with the help of a few trusted members of the Kamunabi, including his old friends Azami and Shiba, the latter having since left the organization. He concealed the blades beneath his house in a cellar.

Sometime after the war, Kunishige forged a seventh Enchanted Blade, Enten. Around 15 years later, three sorcerers of the Hishaku attacked Kunishige's home, killing him and stealing six of the enchanted blades. However, the seventh blade, Enten, remained safe and was passed on to Kunishige's son, Chihiro.

The fortresses that protect the Enchanted Blade wielders: Sanso.

Around the same time as Kunishige's death, Misaka, the wielder of Cloud Gouger in the Seitei War, was also killed. This prompted the Kamunabi to take action, safeguarding the remaining five wielders of the Enchanted Blades in fortresses known as Sanso (慚箱 (さんそう) , Sansō).

Overview

Wielders wielding enchanted blades and materializing their spirit energy.

The Enchanted Blades are incredibly powerful weapons because of their unique relationship with Spirit Energy. While traditional sorcery techniques utilize spirit energy to create objects or bring about various effects, Enchanted Blades intensify the spirit energy within a person to such an extent that it can no longer be contained within the human body, instead materializing into different forms, depending on the blade. These forms can then be utilized to unleash attacks composed of spirit energy itself. As manifestations of their wielders' spirit energy, these forms can be freely moved around by their wielder, and the wielder can also see and hear out of these forms to an extent, allowing them to scout areas before approaching them. Enchanted Blades can also be charged with their wielders' Spirit Energy, allowing the wielder to use the blade's techniques from a distance until the Spirit Energy within the blade runs out.

The blades' ability to interact with spirit energy stems from being crafted from the exceptionally rare ore Datenseki (雫 (だ) 天石 (てんせき) , Datenseki), discovered during the war, of which only 250 kilograms are known to exist. Datenseki, like the Enchanted Blades, can amplify the spirit energy within a person; however it also causes them to explode due to an overabundance of spirit energy. Kunishige was the sole individual in history who was able to stabilize and utilize Datenseki effectively, and additionally craft it into a form safely usable by most people, being the Enchanted Blades.

Tenri using Datenseki to amplify and manifest his spirit energy.

Genichi Sojo attempted to replicate this through harnessing the Kyonagi Clan's flesh and cells in order to make weapons similar to the Enchanted Blades on his own, but the Datenseki he experimented on still caused its users to explode, despite his numerous trials; though his experiments did lead to him to modify a Datenseki stone with temporary stability, which would later be used by Tenri Sazanami. Like the Enchanted Blades, usage of this stabilised Datenseki will also result in the user's spirit energy manifesting in a specific form; in Tenri's case jellyfish. However, Tenri did not display the usage of any unique techniques, only an enhancement to his levels of spirit energy.

Although the Enchanted Blades introduced so far have only displayed a maximum of three primary techniques, there exists a concept known as the True Realm (本 (ほん) 領 (りょう) , Honryō). This describes a phenomenon where the wielder synchronizes their thoughts, instincts, and desires with the blade, prompting it to adapt and enhance its powers according to the wielder's needs. This has led to the development of additional techniques beyond the initial three, such as Chihiro's Kuro: Shred and Sojo's cloaking with Mei.

Four Enchanted Blade wielders who were active during the Seitei War.

To prevent unauthorized usage, Kunishige devised a system known as Lifelong Contracts (命 (めい) 滅 (めつ) 契 (けい) 約 (やく) , Meimetsu Keiyaku, VIZ: Eternal Contracts) for the Enchanted Blades. Once someone becomes a wielder of an Enchanted Blade, only they will be able to access the blade's techniques until their death. However, upon forming a Lifelong Contract with an Enchanted Blade, the wielder will lose their original sorcery. Because of this system, the Kamunabi placed great emphasis on protecting the former wielders, as the Kamunabi recognized that if a former wielder were to perish, the Hishaku could exploit the blades to their full potential.

Any singular person can form Lifelong Contracts with multiple blades at once, as Chihiro, the wielder of Enten, was able to make use of Cloud Gouger after Sojo's death, indicating he had formed a new contract with the blade. A member of the Kamunabi's Shinuchi Bidding Team theorised that based on the Shinuchi's additional sealing compared to the other Enchanted Blades, its power was great enough to bypass the limits of Lifelong Contracts, which was later confirmed by Kunishige.

The broken Cloud Gouger disintegrating after having its remaining energy depleted.

The Enchanted Blades are extremely durable; despite having been crafted and used extensively in the Seitei War, Cloud Gouger looked none the worse for wear when used by Genichi Sojo 18 years later, only taking severe damage at the hands of another Enchanted Blade, Enten. Once split in two, Cloud Gouger began running out of energy but was still able to unleash several charges of Mei before being destroyed.

Enchanted Blades

A detailed list of Enchanted Blades and brief overviews of each blade technique officially released in the series thus far, including unofficially named techniques marked with an asterisk (*). Further details on each technique can be found below.

Name	Image	Overview of Abilities/Techniques
Enten 淵天 (えんてん)	Wielder: Chihiro Rokuhira	Kuro (涅 (くろ) , Kuro) - Chihiro summons the black goldfish, covering his arm and katana in a black liquid. This technique releases a flying slash of variable size, greatly extending the striking range of his katana. The size of the attack is determined by the size of the goldfish summoned.			Kuro: Shred (涅 (くろ) 千 (ちぎり) , Kuro Chigiri) - An extension technique of Kuro where Chihiro summons up to 20 small black goldfish which can be used to unleash up to 20 smaller flying slashes. This technique uses the same amount of spirit energy as a regular Kuro but trades some of its power for the ability to release more rapid and compact slashes, which also lessens the physical burden on Chihiro's body.
		Aka (猩 (あか) , Aka) - Chihiro summons the red goldfish which swims around Chihiro to block him from any incoming attacks. Whatever attack the red goldfish blocks will be absorbed by it. In addition, by saying "Aka" followed by the name of the absorbed attack, Enten will be covered in a red liquid which then fires the same attack in the direction that the blade is pointing. Attacks are only absorbed temporarily.
		Nishiki (錦 (にしき) , Nishiki) - Chihiro summons the tri-colored goldfish which becomes a 'cloak' that Chihiro wears, causing colored streaks to follow the motion of his blade and body. This technique imbues Chihiro's body with high-density spirit energy, granting him greatly amplified movement speed and agility as well as significantly more powerful attacks.			Nishiki: Support* - A secondary form of Nishiki Chihiro used when he was wounded, where rather than strengthening Chihiro's movements, Nishiki supports them instead, lessening the physical strain on his body while still allowing for increased movement speed.
Cloud Gouger 刳雲 (くれぐも) †	Wielder: Misaka Genichi Sojo Chihiro Rokuhira	Mei (鳴 (めい) , Mei) - Cloud Gouger unleashes a powerful lightning bolt which blasts its targets with tremendous force. Cloud Gouger is capable of 'charging' Mei to increase its power. However, highly-charged Mei attacks also disable the usage of Mei for 10-20 seconds; though this downtime can decrease as the wielder of the blade increases their understanding of Cloud Gouger.		Cloaked Mei* - An extension technique of Mei where the wielder cloaks themself in Mei instead of releasing it, enabling them to perform tremendously powerful bursts of speeds akin to a lightning bolt, superior to that of even Enten's Nishiki.		Mei: Shred (鳴 (めい) 千 (ちぎり) , Mei Chigiri) - An extension technique of Mei created by Chihiro after resonating his desire for Cloud Gouger to die by his side and be used for good in its final moments. Chihiro is wreathed in black lightning instead of the usual white, drastically amplifying his movement speed and attack power compared to his normal cloaking.
		Yui (結 (ゆい) , Yui) - Cloud Gouger generates a variable amount of ice in the direction that the blade is pointing, which can be used to almost instantaneously freeze targets in place or create various ice constructs, such as huge columns, small waves or a wide array of spikes. It is unknown how much Yui can be charged, if it has the ability to charge at all.
		Kou (降 (こう) , Kō) - Cloud Gouger creates an enormous amount of water in a specific form. The water can be released as a cloud of mist to disorient enemies and obscure the wielder, or simply released as liquid water, dousing the area around the user. Kou has been noted to have particular synergy with its fellow techniques. The generated water can conduct the electricity generated by Mei, increasing the lightning attack's area of effect. The water can also be used in conjunction with Yui to increase the amount of ice generated. Unlike Mei, Kou requires little to no charge to reach its full strength.
Magatsumi 勾罪 (まがつみ)	Wielder: Unnamed Kyora Sazanami (by proxy)	Spider (蛛 (クモ) , Kumo) - Magatsumi paints a cobweb-like pattern on the ground surrounded by four groups of four spider-like eyes. Any entities caught in the web cannot move.
		Dragonfly (蜻 (トンボ) , Tonbo) - Magatsumi forms several dragonfly-wing shapes around itself before exuding a black liquid that darkens the ground, summoning flowers from beneath. The effects of the darkened ground and the flowers upon making contact with an attack target are unknown, but likely cause plant life to manifest within people that step onto the field, similar to Magatsumi's normal flower fields.
		Centipede (蜈 (ムカデ) , Mukade) - Magatsumi summons a centipede-like construct made up of several circular structures around its wielder, before blasting the circular structures in all directions at high speed with enough force to cleanly cut through earth. When first using this technique, Kyora Sazanami unsheathed a sliver of Magatsumi and slammed it shut and also summoned a small field of flowers; though it appears this is not always necessary to use the technique.
Kumeyuri 酌揺 (くめゆり)	Wielder: Yoji Uruha	Unknown
Tobimune 飛 (とび) 宗 (むね)	Wielder: Seiichi Samura	Unknown

In addition to the above five, there exist two other Enchanted Blades that have not made an appearance thus far. All past and present wielders of Enchanted Blades are listed as follows.

Note: Despite having used an Enchanted Blade, Kyora Sazanami is not included as a wielder due to only using the blade by proxy through Magatsumi's unique nature and not having formed a Lifelong Contract with the blade.

Chihiro Rokuhira

Wielder of Enten
Former Cloud Gouger Wielder

Genichi Sojo^†

Former Cloud Gouger Wielder

Misaka^†

Former Cloud Gouger Wielder

Magatsumi Wielder

Master Swordsman (剣聖 (けんせい) , Kensei)

Seiichi Samura

Wielder of Tobimune

Unnamed Wielder 1

Yoji Uruha

Wielder of Kumeyuri

Unnamed Wielder 2

Individual Enchanted Blade Details

A brief overview of each Enchanted Blade's history and a detailed list of their techniques that have been witnessed in the series thus far. Unofficially named techniques are labelled by an asterisk (*).

Enten

Enten (淵天 (えんてん) , Enten) is the first Enchanted Blade revealed in the series, and the seventh and last of Kunishige's creations, created after the Seitei War. It is wielded by the series' main protagonist, Chihiro Rokuhira. Enten manifests spirit energy in the form of water bubbles and goldfish resembling the three that Kunishige bought. Chihiro briefly lost possession of Enten when he traded it for Hakuri Sazanami's life during his first encounter with Kyora Sazanami, but regained it upon infiltrating Kyora's Storehouse during his raid on the 208th Rakuzaichi.

• Kuro (涅 (くろ) , Kuro): Chihiro summons the black goldfish, covering his arm and katana in a black liquid. This technique releases a flying slash of variable size, greatly extending the striking range of his katana. These slashes are also significantly more powerful than normal slashes, capable of instantly severing the torsos of guards and carving deep cuts in the ground. The size of the attack is determined by the size of the goldfish summoned, with smaller slashes being more ideal against smaller numbers of enemies. Its versatility combined with Chihiro's skill in swordsmanship makes it his most used technique and his typical opening move.
  • Kuro: Shred (涅 (くろ) 千 (ちぎり) , Kuro Chigiri): An extension technique of Kuro where Chihiro summons up to 20 small black goldfish and uses them to unleash up to 20 smaller flying slashes. This technique uses the same amount of spirit energy as a regular Kuro but trades some of its power for the ability to release more rapid and compact slashes, which also lessens the physical burden on Chihiro's body. Kuro: Shred was developed after Enten resonated with Chihiro's instinctual need to be able to attack without putting too much strain on his body. These goldfish can be moved around freely by Chihiro, and he can use them to imbue other people or objects with his spirit energy.
• Aka (赤 (あか) , Aka): Chihiro summons the red goldfish which swims around Chihiro to block him from any incoming attacks. Whatever attack the red goldfish blocks will be absorbed by it. However, attacks comprised of very large amounts of spirit energy may not be fully absorbed, such as Hiyuki's Flame Bone, which knocked Chihiro into a wall and ignited him even after he used Aka to defend himself.
• In addition, after absorbing an attack, by saying "Aka" followed by the name of the absorbed attack, Enten will be covered in a red liquid which then readies the same attack on the blade, to be used at Chihiro's discretion. There has so far been no mention of how many attacks Aka can absorb nor how many times Chihiro can use the absorbed attacks, but so far he has used each attack Aka has absorbed only once, and has only absorbed attacks after using one previously absorbed. Chihiro has stated attacks can only be stored temporarily, though whether this is in regards to time or number of uses is as of yet unknown. Chihiro was able to use Flame Bone a week after first absorbing it.

• Nishiki (錦 (にしき) , Nishiki): Chihiro summons the tri-colored goldfish which becomes a 'cloak' that Chihiro wears, causing colored streaks to follow the motion of his blade and body. This technique imbues all of Chihiro's punches, kicks and slashes with high-density spirit energy, resulting in significantly more powerful attacks. Nishiki also grants Chihiro greatly amplified movement speed and agility, allowing him to mow down a legion of clones almost instantly. The powerful all-around boost Chihiro receives from Nishiki leads him to default to this technique against strong opponents such as Hiyuki Kagari and the Sazanami Clan's Tou.
  • Nishiki: Support*: A secondary form of Nishiki Chihiro used when he was wounded, where rather than strengthening Chihiro's movements, Nishiki supports them instead, lessening the physical strain on his body while still allowing for increased movement speed. As with Kuro: Shred, this support-oriented Nishiki was formed due to Enten detecting Chihiro needed to decrease the strain on his body.

Cloud Gouger

Cloud Gouger (刳雲 (くれぐも) , Kuregumo) is the second Enchanted Blade revealed in the series and one of the six blades stolen by the Hishaku. During the Seitei War, it was wielded by Misaka, who was killed by the Hishaku at around the same time they killed Kunishige. After the Hishaku gave it to him, Cloud Gouger was wielded by weapons dealer Genichi Sojo until his death at the hands of Chihiro, where Cloud Gouger was broken in two. Chihiro would then retrieve the pieces of Cloud Gouger, and use the bottom half of the sword himself when he attacked the site of the Rakuzaichi, consisting of the grip and a sliver of the blade; albeit it was now very close to running out of energy. The bottom half of Cloud Gouger was finally destroyed after Chihiro consumed the last of its energy to counter an attack from Kyora Sazanami. What happened to the remaining part of Cloud Gouger's blade is unknown. Cloud Gouger manifests spirit energy in the form of clouds and cloud dragons.

• Mei (鳴 (めい) , Mei): Cloud Gouger emits a cloud dragon that turns into a powerful lightning bolt which blasts its targets with tremendous force, enough to create holes in buildings and burn and electrocute those that are directly hit by it. Uniquely, Cloud Gouger is also capable of 'charging' Mei through manifesting lightning around itself for several seconds before unleashing the attack, with more time spent charging corresponding to a greater buildup of power. A fully charged Mei was so powerful that Sojo used it in an attempt to kill around a dozen civilians, and even after most of the attack was absorbed by Chihiro Rokuhira, the attack was strong enough to gouge out a path in the road and caued considerable damage to Chihiro himself. However, highly-charged Mei attacks also disable the usage of Mei for an interval of 10-20 seconds; though this limit can decrease as the wielder of the blade increases their understanding of Cloud Gouger.
  • Cloaked Mei*: An extension technique of Mei where the wielder cloaks themself with Mei instead of releasing it, enabling them to perform tremendously powerful bursts of speeds akin to a lightning bolt, superior to that of even Enten's Nishiki. Mei's lightning cloaking does not appear to injure the wielder. Even if the wielder loses contact with Cloud Gouger, the cloaking of Mei will remain in place around them, and if the wielder orders Cloud Gouger to activate Mei they can propel themself towards their lightning-emitting blade, as lightning is attracted to lightning. Sojo gained the ability to cloak with Mei as Cloud Gouger resonated with Sojo's internal desire to continue attacking and killing. Chihiro also utilised this cloaking during his raid on the Rakuzaichi.
  • Mei: Shred (鳴 (めい) 千 (ちぎり) , Mei Chigiri): An extension technique of Mei utilised by Chihiro. Chihiro cloaks himself in black lightning rather than white, amplifying his speed and power to an even greater extent than normal cloaking. Using this technique, Chihiro was able to outspeed the reaction speed of the Hishaku Leader, who had previously been able to keep up with normal cloaking.
• Yui (結 (ゆい) , Yui): Cloud Gouger summons a cloud dragon that forms a variable amount of ice in the direction that the blade is pointing, which can be used to freeze targets in place, form small ice walls to catch projectiles or create huge columns of ice to overwhelm opponents, among other uses. The freezing of targets is almost instantaneous; upon being frozen, Norisaku Madoka didn't realize he had been frozen and ended up inadvertently exploding the car he was in after Sojo had already left and dispelled the ice. It is unknown how much Yui can be charged, if it has the ability to charge at all. When Chihiro used Yui, he noted it consumed spirit energy equal to 30% of a fully charged Mei.
• Kou (降 (こう) , Kō): Cloud Gouger calls forth clouds that create an enormous amount of water in a specific form. The water can be released as a cloud of mist to disorient enemies and obscure the wielder, or simply released as liquid water, dousing the area around the user. Kou has been noted to have particular synergy with its fellow techniques. The generated water can conduct the electricity generated by Mei, increasing the lightning attack's area of effect. The water can also be used in conjunction with Yui to increase the amount of ice generated. Unlike Mei, Kou requires little to no charge to reach its full strength.

Magatsumi

Magatsumi within its sealed box.

Magatsumi (勾罪 (まがつみ) , Magatsumi), more commonly known and referred to by its title of "Shinuchi" (真打 (しんうち) , Shin'uchi, a term used to refer to something of the highest quality), is the third Enchanted Blade revealed in the series and one of the six blades stolen by the Hishaku. During the Seitei War, it was wielded by an individual referred to as 'the master swordsman'. Magatsumi is said to be the most formidable of the original six Enchanted Blades; where the other five blades turned the tides of the Seitei War, the sixth blade, Magatsumi, led Japan to victory. A rope-based seal was constructed around Magatsumi's box by the Kamunabi's three most high-ranking leaders, due to Magatsumi's unique ability to ignore its Lifelong Contract. In order to break the seal, the Hishaku Leader spent three years working tirelessly and was eventually able to break it, leaving the ropes around it before submitting it to the 208th Rakuzaichi. Following the auction, it was given to the Kamunabi by Chihiro, who proceeded to begin the process of sealing it once more.

Magatsumi can bypass its Lifelong Contract by manifesting a small butterfly made from spirit energy and imbuing it within another person, allowing them to use Magatsumi despite not being the holder of the Lifelong Contract. This was first seen when Magatsumi's wielder did so to Kyora, granting Kyora access to Magatsumi. Additionally, this imbuement creates a mental link between the wielder and the other person, allowing the wielder to attempt to possess or take control over the other person, though this can be staved off with enough mental fortitude, as in Kyora's case.

Magatsumi manifests spirit energy in the form of flower fields and butterflies, and certain forms of the latter are noticeably greater in size compared to other Enchanted Blade spirit energy manifestations, suggesting Magatsumi amplifies its user's spirit energy by a larger factor compared to other Enchanted Blades. In order for the flower fields to spawn, Magatsumi first exudes a black liquid from the blade which drips to the ground and darkens it, flowers forming from the darkened ground. If a person makes contact with the flower field, flowers and branches begin to grow out of their skin and mouth, killing them from the inside out. Magatsumi's proxy wielder is not immune to this, as was seen when liquid exuded from the blade onto Kyora's skin and vines wrapped themselves around Kyora's hand.

• Spider (蛛 (クモ) , Kumo) - Magatsumi paints a cobweb-like pattern on the ground surrounded by four groups of four spider-like eyes. Any entities caught in the web cannot move, though Chihiro was able to summon the red goldfish to defend himself.
• Dragonfly (蜻 (トンボ) , Tonbo) - Magatsumi forms several dragonfly-wing shapes around itself before blasting spirit energy forward along the ground, rapidly expanding the darkened ground and summoning flowers from beneath. The effect of this technique upon making contact with an attack target are unknown, but it is likely to also cause plant life to erupt from the body of whoever makes contact with the field. The technique can be countered by destroying the ground the darkened patch is advancing on, as Hiyuki did using Flame Bone.
• Centipede (蜈 (ムカデ) , Mukade) - Magatsumi summons a centipede-like construct made up of several circular structures around its wielder, before blasting the circular structures in all directions at high speed with enough force to cleanly cut through earth. When first using this technique, Kyora Sazanami unsheathed a sliver of Magatsumi and slammed it shut and also summoned a small field of flowers; though it appears this is not always necessary to use the technique.

Kumeyuri

Kumeyuri (酌揺 (くめゆり) , Kumeyuri) is the fourth Enchanted Blade revealed in the series and one of the six blades stolen by the Hishaku. During the Seitei War, it was wielded by Yoji Uruha.

Tobimune

Tobimune (飛 (とび) 宗 (むね) , Tobimune) is the fifth Enchanted Blade revealed in the series and one of the six blades stolen by the Hishaku. During the Seitei War, it was wielded by Seiichi Samura.

Trivia

• The Japanese reading for the Enchanted Blades, 妖 (よう) 刀 (とう) (Yōtō), more literally translates to 'cursed blades' or 'demonic blades'.
  • The character Yō 妖 (よう) is additionally identical to the one in the Japanese reading for Sorcery: 妖 (よう) 術 (じゅつ) (Yōjutsu).